A simple plan and a commitment to waste-wary design and construction practices give this family home an aesthetic that is more than skin deep.
All afternoon a nor’wester had pushed hard against the low-slung roof of Caroline and Simon’s home. By twilight, the air softened and the last gusts rippled through the grasses edging their perennial border. Beyond the deck, the land rolled towards the foothills, the sky easing into stillness. “The calm between two fronts,” says Simon. He means the weather, although the phrase sums up life here: a family finding steadiness between work and rest, resourcefulness and reward.
That rhythm defines this home: a project shaped by determination and care, realised on a modest budget, without feeling compromised. The couple left Ōtautahi/Christchurch in search of space and community, returning to family land north of the Ashley/Rakahuri River to raise their girls with the same rural upbringing they’d each experienced. They built on a four-hectare block carved from Caroline’s parents’ farm, where her mum still pops by with flowers and the girls, Ada and Rosella, wander next door to visit their grandparents. “It’s lovely being close,” says Caroline. “Mum drops in to get some fresh eggs, Dad borrows tools, and we keep an eye on things for each other.”
Their architect friend Patrick Smart of MAP had been part of the conversation long before there was a site or a sketch. “We’ve always talked about design,” says Caroline. “Patrick gets how we think. We share a love of natural materials and Japanese architecture, and he knows we like things simple and unfussy.” Patrick adds, “They already had a strong sense of how they wanted to live. The design was about distilling that: a robust, low-lying form that belongs to the land.”
The couple lived nearby with Caroline’s parents during the build, while Frost Architectural Builders led construction. Simon managed the project daily, keeping the work on track and within reach. “We were on a tight budget,” he says. “That meant being on site, asking questions and solving problems as they came up.” There were long days, small wins and a lot of learning along the way.
The result feels all the better for it.
Caroline scoured Trade Me and salvage yards for fixtures, tiles and appliances, determined to reuse wherever possible. Her brother-in-law lent his skills to the brick cladding — a valued contribution to a very personal project. “It was a big team effort,” says Caroline. “Family, friends, people lending advice. It all made a difference.”
Recycling guided much of the process. The bricks, a textural anchor for the bedroom area, came from a local supplier who salvages and cleans them by hand. They are bound with a creamy mortar that lends warmth to the façade. Macrocarpa, milled nearby, clads the living zone and continues through to the deck. The corrugated Zincalume roof keeps the form simple, sitting low against the slope. Inside, a burnished concrete floor adds thermal mass, the woodburner and wetback doing the rest.
In keeping with their waste-conscious approach, Simon sorted materials into recyclable, reusable and removable piles rather than relying on a skip. “It’s crazy how much gets thrown out on a normal build,” he says. “We wanted to avoid that where we could.”
The layout follows a single line: a brick spine for bedrooms and utility spaces, and a timber-clad living area that opens west to an outdoor space tucked into the middle of the plan. Sheltered from the nor’wester and the easterly, and catching the last of the light, it’s where the family gathers most evenings. “That spot always feels calm, even when the wind’s up,” says Caroline.
Inside, the material palette follows function. In the main living area, walls are lined in ply for warmth and durability. Grooved ply on the ceilings carries through the hallway and into the bedrooms, where painted walls give each space its own tone, a shift from the natural texture of the shared zones to something softer and more personal.
A walk-in pantry was high on Caroline’s wishlist, large enough for preserving jars, the freezer and a hidden-away workbench. “It’s the hardest-working room in the house,” she says. A mudroom near the entry catches boots and schoolbags before they reach the polished floor.
The couple’s own bedroom feels like a small apartment within the house, a space to retreat at the end of the day, with its walk-in robe and ensuite tucked behind sliding doors. “It’s our escape as parents,” says Simon. “We love how it feels contained but still connected.”
Details reveal the same mix of pragmatism and care. The kitchen combines flat-pack cabinetry with timber fronts the pair made themselves. A brick island introduces a statement form with a subtle curve to the room, echoing the exterior cladding. Antique sideboards were repurposed as bathroom vanities, their solid timber bringing warmth and weight. Stone tiles, bought at a showroom clearance, add texture underfoot. Even the doors have a story: solid-timber finds from a Christchurch salvage yard, stripped and refinished by Caroline. “You can feel the history in them,” she says. “It’s satisfying giving old things another round.”
The garden completes the picture. The soil is clay-rich, a challenge Caroline meets with persistence and mulch. Rows of vegetables sit beside young fruit trees, while a pleached pear hedge begins to define the boundary. Perennials and grasses blur the line between garden and paddock. “I’m always outside,” says Caroline. “The house and garden feel connected — you move naturally between them.”
By evening, the family is often found outdoors. Simon and Caroline make the most of the last light, while the girls check on their pet lambs or collect eggs from the chickens, part of the small menagerie that’s grown around them. When the wind drops and the air stills, the house seems to pause too, the timber cooling and the hills fading into dusk.
The weather will always change, yet the feeling remains. The calm between two fronts.
Words Alice Lines
Photography Mickey Ross
The post Simplicity meets sustainability in this rural family home appeared first on homestyle magazine.
